last saturday

Nuri Sahin has finally completed his medical at Melwood and signed his one year deal with Liverpool
FC.

He becomes the first Turkish player ever to join LFC and I wish him all the best for the Season
ahead. He is a skilful central mid-fielder with a great range of passing to his game, take note
Charlie Adam.

Fernando Torres has had to get used to the pressure of his price tag and the constant scrutiny of
the press and media about his performances ever since he signed for Chelsea. Now that Didier Drogba
has gone, there are already stories about Chelsea "lacking" firepower this season but today
Fernando Torres has a chance to start the season on a high and begin to answer all those critics
with goals against City at Villa Park.

I'm Sorry, You Were Saying Something About My Substitution Strategy?Last Saturday saw the
lowly Portland Timbers visit Red Bull Arena for a match that was highly anticipated by many Red
Bull fans who had to endure a horrible performance at Houston and a not-entirely-convincing win at
home against the same team in previous weeks.

Former Arsenal and England 'keeper Richard Wright has left new club Preston North End despite
only officially signing on last Saturday (on his release from Ipswich), with the 34-year old citing
homesickness after requesting to have his one-year contract terminated with immediate effect.

Alan Pardew didn't have much of aÂ choice, as to what to do about the misconduct charge the FA
issued to him last Monday, after he was seen to push the referee's assistant after about an hour of
the game against Tottenham last Saturday. Alan Pardew pleaded guilty This is what Alan said about
the [.

Newcastle had one first team starter missing through injury last Saturday afternoon, and would you
believe it, James Perch forced his way into the side as a replacement for Newcastle captainÂ
Fabricio Coloccini, and that's not bad for a player who a year ago looked like he was on the scrap
heap atÂ Newcastle.

17 year-old Adam Campbell was showing what he can do again last Saturday, when he scored a hat
trick in the first 33 minutes of the U21 game against TottenhamÂ Hotspur at Benton, and he looked
really impressive, as he did for the Newcastle first team at Cardiff a week last Saturday. Adam
Campbell in action [.

17 year-old Adam Campbell was showing what he can do again last Saturday, when he scored a hat
trick in the first 33 minutes of the U21 game against TottenhamÂ Hotspur at Benton, and he looked
really impressive, as he did for the Newcastle first team at Cardiff a week last Saturday. Adam
Campbell in action [.

Adam Campbell was one of the fewÂ positiveÂ things that came out of last Saturday's 4-1 defeat at
Cardiff City, but it was noÂ flashÂ in the pan, and Adam scored for Newcastle ReservesÂ in
mid-week, and he seems to have continued his impressive form inÂ training. Adam Campbell could be
in squad for Atromitos game Newcastle will field their [.

LocalÂ ladÂ StevenÂ TaylorÂ has come out this morningÂ andÂ he's yet another player who has now
apologized for the terrible display againstÂ CardiffÂ City last Saturday, and said the lads let
down the faithfulÂ NewcastleÂ fans whoÂ traveledÂ all the way to Cardiff, and had that stuff to
watch from the Magpies.

One goodÂ piece of news this week for Newcastle fans, was that DembaÂ BaÂ is still at the club, and
did not move away from TynesideÂ via that Â£7M releaseÂ clauseÂ in his contract, so that's a big
relief. Demba Ba in action against Braga last Saturday Demba Ba has looked very sharp in
pre-season, evenÂ withÂ Ramadan having started, and we [.

One goodÂ piece of news this week for Newcastle fans, was that DembaÂ BaÂ is still at the club, and
did not move away from TynesideÂ via that Â£7M releaseÂ clauseÂ in his contract, so that's a big
relief. Demba Ba in action against Braga last Saturday Demba Ba has looked very sharp in
pre-season, evenÂ withÂ Ramadan having started, and we [.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is looking forward to seeing new manager Brendan Rodgers
revolutionize the Reds' offense but wants his teammates to use last season's disappointment as a
fuel to succeed in the coming campaign.

Gerrard has been out of action since England's Euro 2012 quarterfinal elimination but his
teammates have continued to struggle, remaining without a win in their first two pre-season matches
in the United States.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is looking forward to seeing new manager Brendan Rodgers
revolutionize the Reds' offense but wants his teammates to use last season's disappointment as a
fuel to succeed in the coming campaign.

Gerrard has been out of action since England's Euro 2012 quarterfinal elimination but his
teammates have continued to struggle, remaining without a win in their first two pre-season matches
in the United States.

Who would have guessed that Roma would pose more of a problem than Toronto FC, especially when
starting the likes of Totti, Osvaldo, Pjanic, Bradley, Rosi, and Burdisso, and bringing on Bojan,
Lamela, and Heinze in the second half?

When Thierry Henry called rookie Connor Lade one of the New York Red Bulls' players of the
season more than a week ago, the high praise seemed a bit generous. Last Saturday, Lade showed just
why Henry and his teammates are so high on the St. John's product.

Lade turned in a Man of the Match-caliber effort in providing two assists in the Red Bulls' 2-0
victory against the Philadelphia Union.

The road woes continued for the Revs tonight as they fell 2-1 to the Montreal Impact, dropping
them back down into 7th place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Revolution's record now
stands at 6-9-4, while their road record reflects a disappointing 1-7-1.

The match tonight saw the return of Ryan Guy to the lineup, who went the full 90 minutes, and
also saw Darrius Barnes stepping into the role usually occupied by Stephen McCarthy, who is
recovering from concussive-like symptoms after taking a knock against Toronto FC last Saturday.

The Revs never recovered from Stephen McCarthy's early injury after he collided with Ryan
Johnson on Saturday. (Photo: Kari Heistad)

Stephen McCarthy's early injury gave Toronto FC an opening to grab the lead and the New England
Revolution were never able to recover from the early 1-0 deficit as they fell to TFC at Gillette
Stadium on Saturday night.

The rumor mill was going in full motion last night on this deal and now it is official. Toronto
FC has sent Designated Player Julian de Guzman to FC Dallas in exchange for Generation adidas
midfielder/forward Andrew Wiedeman.

A lot of labels have been attached to FC Dallas defender Zach Loyd in his nearly three seasons with
the club. One of those monikers is resilient. After having to miss last Saturday's 3-2 win over
Colorado because of a red card during a 1-1 draw at Portland the previous weekend, Loyd responded
with what his head coach called one of his best games in Wednesday's 2-0 shutout of Vancouver
Whitecaps FC at BC Place.

Earlier this week, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman said in a quote when asked about the
decision to sit Brek Shea for a second straight game last Saturday that the decision had been made
by a committee.

Philadelphia Union head coach John Hackworth took some time out from helping coach the MLS
All-Star Team to address some internet rumors making the rounds that had the Union dealing Freddy
Adu.

Adu's absence from Philadelphia's 2-0 loss to New York, and the Union's subsequent refusal to
provide details as to why he was absent (saying only that it was an internal matter) helped spark
some imaginations and led to the creation of some internet trade rumors, with the most popular
being that the Union was going to trade Adu to FC Dallas for Brek Shea, who is out of favor in
Dallas after a very public blow-up with head coach Schellas Hyndman.

In the midst of a busy stretch that will get even more busier in the coming week, the Los
Angeles Galaxy has simply one objective; get points.

Following a shootout win at Portland last Saturday followed by a two-goal rally against
Vancouver for a draw on Wednesday, the Galaxy earned three more points in its biggest match to
date, outlasting Chivas USA 3-1 in the second installment of the 2012 Honda Superclasico on
Saturday night.

Sorry for the delay in the player ratings. Given that this week is so incredibly busy, what with
another game tomorrow, and all the news that surfaced yesterday, we're running a little behind
schedule. Additionally, as with normal busy-week schedule expect today's player ratings to be a tad
abbreviated as we attempt to fit in a lot of stuff into not enough time.

As is often the case with young players, a strong performance in one game often doesn't spill
over into the following match. That was definitely the case for FC Dallas striker Ruben Luna, who
was strong in the second 90-minute performance of his career in last Saturday's 3-2 win over
Colorado.

The post Hyndman: Ruben Luna Had Tough Night in Vancouver appeared first on 3rd Degree.

I am ever the optimist and always try to find the silver lining in dark and stormy clouds and
these last few months have not been even close to the CumulUs humilis of last year. The clouds have
not even been the typical Nimbostratus clouds of a normal up and down season but have been the
cumulonimbus incus which usually foretells a very rough patch in the weather.

High, low. Up, down. Hot, cold. If there's one thing I can say about this current Portland
Timbers squad it's that they're certainly not consistent with their results. It boggles my mind how
a team can come out as fired up against their primary rival, the Seattle Sounders, and win then go
on the road to the Colorado Rapids and essentially play like a dead fish, and then come home to
play a game against the San Jose Earthquakes and be on fire once again.

The Rest

A fortnight ago, I wrote effusively of Oxford United's strong start to the season; Chris Wilder's
charges having reached the summit of the League 2 table with a win over Plymouth. But with Wilder
installed as the bookmakers' favourite for the vacant Coventry City job, York City having ended the
Us' unbeaten run last Saturday and Exeter City plundering a terrifically impressive 4-2 win at the
Kassam at the weekend, the situation is now less rosy for the Thames Valley Club.

(Sorry guys, this is just a filler for now, due to technical reasons the post will be up after
the game)

Milan for Lyon, first take, clap! New Lyonnais Milan Bisevac will start in central defense. The
Serb defender will be associated with Kone and not Lovren, who rejoined the group after four months
absence due to a painful foot.

One pattern had to end on Saturday night, as the Montreal Impact welcomed fellow Eastern
Conference foe Philadelphia Union to Saputo Stadium for the first time. The Impact, winners of
their last three home matches, faced off against the Union, winners of three of their last
four.

Remember when I said this week was gonna be hectic? Well here's your proof. It's a few hours from
game day and I'm just not putting up my preview interview form earlier this week. This also means
that tonight we'll use an abbreviated match thread.

In any case, I was lucky enough to interview Robert Jonas of fellow SB Nation blog: Quake,
Rattle and Goal to help us figure out exactly who this San Jose side is, and why they're so damn
good right now.